Resistance is Futile
by Spaz913
Summary: After seven years of waiting, Naota's ultimate fantasy, whom he called Haruko, has returned! Will he ever open his heart up to her and run the risk of getting hurt again? There's 3 stikes in a ball game, but does Naota play by those rules? CHAP.7 UP!
1. I Come In Peace

**Disclaimer:** I don't own FLCL/Furi Kuri/Fooly Cooly (whatever you want to call it) I own a fish named Lucky.

**A/N:** I first posted this story a long time ago, just a little after FLCL was shown in America. I got five chapters written and realized that I needed to fix some of my mistakes... Well let's just say that some mistakes are too big to fix, so I started from scratch. I kept this chapter without any changes, because it got a lot of good reviews, and I think it's pretty good how it is. I have to re-write the chapters, so if you have read this before, then expect changes in future chapters.

* * *

**Resistance is Futile**

****

**Chapter 1:**

**I Come in Peace**

* * *

Naota laid on his bed awaiting dinner. His stomach grumbled. "Shut up. What do you have to complain about?" he questioned himself. He lifted his head up slightly to look at his abdomen. "It's not like you've had to eat curry or anything." He sighed. 

Haruko left seven years ago. Ten years have passed since Haruko left. Ten long, boring years. (A/N: Look to the author's note in the next chapter for an explanation of that sentence) Nothing amazing happens or has happened since she left. In fact, nothing has really 'happened' at all. Nothing will ever happen again. Only the ordinary.

"Nao! Dinner!" Kamon called to him. Naota got off his bed in a lazy way. He had grown up. He wasn't a kid anymore. He was not a child.

He now, no matter what was in his head(if anything), physically, he was an adult. Haruko could not longer call him a kid. He's feeling's of boredom, and dislike of sour, too carbonated and spicy stuff hadn't changed. And the biggest way he had stayed the same was that he was still in love with Haruko. She said "maybe next time" and those words still echoed in Naota's empty head.

He opened the door, exited the room, creaking was heard as he slowly walked down the stairs, then the short hallway. He stared at the floor, as if looking for money. He found none. He wanted none. He needed none. He finally reached his destination when:(goes manga)(It's just not the same without manga)

"It's YOU!" Naota said, pointing at the very woman who had haunted his dreams for the passed seven years sitting right in front of him.

"Why are you yelling?" Kamon asked in his usual tone of voice.

"Hurry up and sit down," Shigekuni ordered sternly(Naota's grandpa)

"You didn't tell me you were having a lady friend over Naota," Tasuku said, pointing at Haruko. "I don't think we've been introduced."

"Yo." Haruko waved her hands at Naota, stuffing food in her mouth. She looked the same. Exactly the same. When she was here last she claimed to be 19. Perhaps she still was.(?)

"AHHHHHH! WHY ARE YOU JUST SITTING THERE LIKE YOU NEVER LEFTLIKE NOTHING HAPPENED!" Naota yelled, enraged at the nerve she had to pretend everything was okay and normal.

"Ah, I forgot to mention, Haruko-San asked me for a little time off," Kamon explained.

"She was training to become an Astronaut, she bought back these cool N.A.S.A bumper stickers." Shigekuni examined at them in awe. They read: I'm an official alien!

"NASA makes bumper stickers! I want a NASA bumper sticker! Why would she want to be an astronaut? She's already an alien! Maybe she went to Venus!" Naota continued to shout.

"You shouldn't call your girlfriend an alien, unless it's some kind of kinky alien, Venus role-playing thing," Tasuku said. "Ahhh... Those were the days." Tasku sighed, reminiscing about his days in America.

"Venus, penis, kinky wieners, boner, stoner, Neil, Bob, SUGAR!" Haruko threw sugar up in the air. "AHHHHHHH! MY EYES! IT BURNS MY EYES!...But it's oddly refreshing..."

"What's for dinner anyway?" Naota inquired, changing the subject.

"I made curry!" Haruko surveyed him. She was wearing her maniac grin.

"You know that I hate spicy stuff!" Naota fell into his chair next to Tasuku.

"Your still just a kid Ta-kun" She was still grinning. And with that said Naota scooped a huge clump of the steaming red rice with the SPORK. He would NOT be called a kid anymore. He REFUSED to be a called a child. He then gulped, and took it into his mouth, Haruko's smirk grew evilly. Then the most out-of-ordinary thing happned...He hadn't had curry for so long that he had forgotten what it tasted like, and had never cared to try it again. Now, seven years later, his tastes had changed. He actuallyliked it!

"So... Haruko-san, we have some catching up to do," Kamon said drooling.

"No, me and Ta-Kun here, have some catching up to do." She looked over at Naota. "Right Ta-kun?" she spat out the last bit, turning her head to the side, like a confused puppy.

"No," he said, giving her the cold shoulder. Haruko walked over to him and whispered in his ear:

"I'll explain later," she said almost silently.

"So... Naota, you and Haruko still have a fooly cooly type of relationship?" Kamon said looking psychotic."You do know what fooly cooly means now right?"

"Sure, but what's the big deal?" Naota said questionably.

"But your the main character. You should appreciate fooly cooly!" Kamon cried out, beginning one of his rants. "Ya know? Like Goku from Dragon Ball Z? Or Lina from Slayers? Or Pikachu from Pokemon? I had a mouse once. I named it Sam. Sam I am...but then it died. I forgot to feed it, but it wasn't my fault. He also got electrocuted! I got free cable for a week. I used his whiskers as..." Kamon trailed off.

* * *

"They're in a good mood," Naota continued to wash himself in the bathroom. He hadn't really taken in all that happen at dinner. Maybe it was just a dream. _Why did she come back? _

_Tasuku had returned from the U.S about a month ago. When he got back he told me that Mamimi had come to the U.S. He was still with his American girlfriend at the time. Soon after Mamimi arrived, his girlfriend was badly burned in a fire at the apartment where Tasuku and the American girl were staying. There were rumors that Mamimi caused the fire, but she was never charged. Tasuku broke up with his girlfriend soon after, she was just too, "different" after the burns, and Tasuku and Mamimi got back together then they both returned here. _

Mamimi still isn't allowed in the house. Tasuku and Mamimi are looking for a place to stay. They haven't found anything yet, so Tasuku is sleeping in my room, on the top bunk. I have to move out soon. I just can't stay here anymore, it's too boring. At least that's what I had set in my mind until Haruko came back.

* * *

Haruko was still downstairs laughing and joking with he's family. _She said she'd explain why she's come back here_ Naota thought to himself. He was getting tired. He was scared to go to sleep. What if he went to sleep and when he woke and she wasn't there, or it was a dream? She had hurt him so much. "Why do I even care if she's here or not?... What does it matter? She'll leave again soon anyways!"

"I'm not leaving." Haruko appeared standing at the doorway, as if on que. She was carrying her clothes. She tossed her garments down on the floor carelessly.

"You have to clean that up ya know? It's your job," Naota said pointing at the mess she had made on the floor. "So why are you here?" He figured that would be the best way to begin any interrogation.

"To see you, and that's not part of my job." The floor creaked as she walked closer to him. Creating an urge in Naota to look up a her.

"What do you really want?" he quired, never taking his eyes off the pile of clothes. His favorite hat wasn't anywhere to be found, he noticed off-hand.

"To be with you," she replied, getting closer. Her eyes fixed on the young man before her.

"Liar. You don't want me, you want my head," he said, his eyes still on the clothes._ Where's my hat?_ He questioned himself mentally.

"I want your head, but not that head," she said slyly, cocking an eyebrow, and smirking devilishly. "And your protection," she added, now only about a foot away from him. Her shadow cast on him, making it even harder for him to keep his mind off her.

"Protection?" he asked, ignoring what she said about his head, finally looking at her. "Why do you want me to protect you?" he said in a confused tone. She sat next to him. He scooted away.

"Still embarrassed?" Haruko said while staring at him.

"I don't have anything to be embarrassed about." He scowled.

"Then why do you push me away Ta-kun?" She asked in a childish manner.

"I don't want you." He turned his head away, finding a new interest. _Where'd my head band go?_ He wondered looking at his windowsill, where he usually left it.

"You still love me," she said in a high-pitched voice, almost singing.

"How can I love someone who only uses me!" he questioned himself, more than Haruko. He had almost forgotten that she was there.

"I dunno, but you do," She said in a dull voice.

"I don't!" he insisted with the voice inside his head. It wasn't until she placed her head on his shoulder, that he woke up from his daydream. He wasn't dreaming, he was experiencing his worst nightmare.

"Don't lie to yourself Ta-kun, you love me," she said her voice raising. _Why is he acting so weird? _

"Your full of yourself!" He still believed it was a dream, even with her head laying on him.

"You are still embarrassed." Haruko pushed down his shoulder so he lay flat on the bed, then mounted him. "See, your blushing." She got nose-to-nose with him. _SNAP OUT OF IT! _Naota finally regained consciousness, he recovered his brain, the brain he had lost seven years ago. It was tearing him apart.

Tasuku walked in. "WOA! SORRY! Didn't mean to disturb you!"

"It's not what it looks like!" Naota yelled.

"It's exactly what it looks like!" Haruko yelled back at him.

"I told you to leave a sock on the door, if your having a _friend_ over, if ya know what I mean!" Tasuku continued to look at them.

"It's rape! It's rape!" Naota screamed at Tasuku. Naota didn't put all of his efforts into his words, he was more occupied in his own thoughts.

"If you really wanted me off, you could move me." Haruko smirked down at Naota.

"I'll be back later!" Tasuku ran out of the room, shutting the door behind him._ I'll go see Mamimi  
_  
Haruko leaned in for a kiss, Naota moved his head away. "Get off of me!" he ordered. _WHY!_ He didn't understand why he wasn't accepting her advances. _It never stopped me before, I do still love her, so WHY!  
_  
"You know you want to kiss me," Haruko urged, smirking down at him again. Getting a mere centimeter from his lips."Just lift your head, and we kiss, even someone without a brain can do that."

That's the problem, he did have a brain, it was stopping him, _it's for the best!_ He was fighting a mental war. "I don't want to kiss you!"

"You say that." She was trying to make eye contact. She couldn't do it. _He's scared to look at me! Dang... I have to think of something quick.  
_  
"Yeah, I say that." Haruko laid herself on-top of him, making the gap between them disappear completely. Their eye's finally met. Haruko was happy with what she saw.

"Your eye's disagree." She got closer to his lips. "Now kiss me!" Maniac Grin(trademark)

"No!" Naota rejected once more. His brain told him that in the end it would hurt, like it did before, it was saving the heart; from pain.

"But your insides are killing you right now, aren't they! You want to kiss me, but you can't,... your _scared,_" she finished, "Chicken."

"What do I have to be afraid of!" Naota demanded angrily. The brain still had control, the heart was the strongest organ in the body, but the brain was new, reborn, and longing for a fight.

"That's what I was going to ask you," Haruko replied still smiling. _Breaking point.  
_  
Naota's eyebrows knitted together. He's heart was bleeding to death, there's only one person that can block the flow of blood.

"Why won't you kiss me!" Haruko said sternly, through clenched teeth.

"Why should I!" _No! Damn it STOP!_ It was controlling his words, actions, and thoughts. _Feelings are all I have left._

"Don't play that game! I want to know why!" Haruko screamed at the top of her lungs. (pretty damn loud)

"Why should I tell you!" So close yet so far.

"I have a right to know!" Haruko was turning red, and was clenching her teeth so tightly, she was giving a new meaning to _red hot jaw breakers._

"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT AT ALL!" Naota yelled at her. Haruko looked surprised, the red slipping from her face. "You have no right," Naota's voice went back to normal. His brain had a point. "You have no right, to come back, after seven years. Seven years, and act like nothing has changed, act like you were never gone." He paused. And he hated the point that his brain made. "You left me, to go look for this power, something I knew nothing about, you never even gave me a worthy explanation, of why you left. Or why you returned," he finished. He was shocked at his own realization.

"You never gave me the chance to explain why I came back," Haruko retorted, angry for being caught off-guard. _It wasn't supposed to be like this.  
_  
"Hmmm... let me guess. Still on the hunt for what's-his-name...'Atmoekis'?" Naota's heart shivered with that remark, he knew he hit a soft spot in Haruko.

"His name's Atomisk," she barely manged to squeeze the words out of her throat, her fists tightening.

"Oh yeah, that's right, the one _your_ in love with," he said, making another realization; _Does she even, like me? Did she ever like me? No... she didn't, she's a lie, it's all a big game...  
_  
"I'm not in love with him." She looked down sadly... A_nymore...  
_  
"I heard otherwise." His heart felt as if it had been placed in a freezer. The blood which was once warm, and full of love for Haruko, was now being iced, bottled and sold on the black market.

"Is that why your mad?" she questioned rubbing his arm.

"You still don't get it, do you?" His heart was now solid...(beep, beep, beep) Beating slower and slower as time wore on.

"Get what?" she asked, licking his chin. "I don't need to understand anything."

"Me. You still don't understand me, what goes through my head." A newly formed brain for-instance

"Are you going to let me explain?" She need to say this, she needed him to understand -her-.

"Go ahead, take your best shot. I hope it's better then last time 'Just to see you Ta-kun, your head is the only one that works'." (one long ear-splitting beeeeeeeeeeep)

"I need your help-"

"I knew it," Naota cut her off. "That's why I'm upset...that's why I keep my lips to myself." The brain had won, conquered all.

"LET ME FINISH!" She needed him to listen.

"That's all you've ever done, that's all you'll ever do," Naota said to himself, more then to Haruko. "The only thing I'm good for is a bridge from one dimension to another, right?" He wasn't done. "You have no right, no right at all!"

* * *

I dunno why I ended the chappie there. I don't have to explain myself to you. I don't have to explain anything. The only thing I explained in the fic was about Tasuku, and I still left out tons of details! It just felt right...And I'm really tired, it's 4am, I've eaten an entire bag of pixie sticks, and the sugar is wearing off. Maybe I'll watch FLCL before I go to sleep... Maybe. 

**Next chappie:** Will Naota kiss Haruko? Will Haruko leave? Will Naota hurt his head?(DUH! 'course he'll hurt his head!) And, what's this? Tasku is falling in love with Haruko?

Next time : Jealousy reaches it's boiling point! Or should I say _"Burning"_ point?

**Haruko VS Mamimi!**

REVIEW! no flames! -Mamimi cries- Meow meow meow...


	2. Eyebrows Of Your Dreams

**Disclaimer:** I wish I owned something other then a fish.

**Author Notes:** One reviewed asked what I meant when I said Haruko left seven years ago. Ten years have passed since Haruko left. Well, think about it, this is Naota's voice over, like he does in the anime, this is him talking... When hes saying this, he still doesn't have his brain back yet, so this is how he feels. Although it's only been 7 years, it feels like 10 to him.

* * *

**Chapter 2: **

**Eyebrows of your dreams**

* * *

"What's up, Tasuku?" Mamimi greeted her long time love as he approached.

"Did you know that Naota has a girlfriend?" he asked. He didn't say "Hi" and he didn't even notice Mamimi's welcoming smile.

"Sure, Ninamori, right?" she said getting up to kiss him, and he walked right by. Her eyebrows furrowed, _what ha_s_ gotten into him!  
_  
"No, they broke up, I guess..." he said in a unsure voice, once again ignoring his girlfriend's advances. "_She" was different... b__ut ...why was she so different from normal girls?  
_  
"Someone he met at school?" she suggested, with a look of depression on her face. _No one loves me...  
_  
"No, Dad and Grandpa knew her too, Dad was flirting with her. OH! I remember her name now! HARUKO!" Tasuku exclaimed, overjoyed that he finally remembered something. A chorus of the gods...

"Kamon was flirting with Naota's girlfriend?" _Why doesn't he flirt with me?_ Mamimi thought, with a longing expression on her face. (A/N: Yeah, I know... EWWWWW) "Wait, DID YOU SAY ...Haruko?" she barely got the name "Haruko," through her lips, like it was unholy to even say her name. _Not her, anyone but her!_

"Yeah. Haruko, nice name. Naota kept denying that they were together... but she's all over him. You know how Naota is, the shy type," Tasuku explained, mentally wishing that it was him Haruko was hanging all over.

"All too well..." Mamimi said, not paying attention to who she was talking to, or what she was talking about. _Nice name!_

"Huh? All too well? What do you mean?" Tasuku asked, apparently clueless.

"What!" Mamimi's eyes widened. "OOOPPS!" she yelped, afraid that she had revealed her and Naota's secret, they had agreed that it was best if Tasuku didn't know about their little relationship.

"Oops, I did it again..." he sung, "I played with your heart, got lost in the game! Ohhh baby, baby!" Mamimi cocked an eyebrow. (Amarao walks on set, background pauses. He runs up to Mamimi and slaps red, fire eyebrows on her, Amarao walks off caimly...set returns to normal)

"Uhh..." Tasuku stopped singing. "Cool eyebrows!.. I mean, hot, eyebrows." Mamimi touched her new eyebrows softly examining them with her first finger.

"Finally..." she said, pulling out a cigarette from her handbag. "No need for lighters." She smiled, and lit the cigarette with her flamin' eyebrows.

* * *

Miyamiya walked in the room through the cat door. 

"It's not what it looks like!" Naota screamed. He was still stuck under Haruko.

"It's just the cat... Ta..." Haruko said, with a small smile on her face, and eyebrow raised (Amarao walks on stage, background pauses, slaps red hot chilly pepper eyebrows on Haruko, plot goes on...). _I do have a right to know... Don't I?  
_  
"It was just the cat..." Naota repeated, then sighed... _No one can save me._

"Maybe I was wrong...you are still embarrassed," Haruko teased still laying on-top of the furiously red faced young man.

"I'm not embarrassed!" Naota yelled back at her, now his ego had joined the game. Haruko found her perfect moment and crashed her lips against his. Naota's eyes widened, but they slowly closed. He realized that he had given in to her persuasion and pulled away hastily. He turned his head to the side out of her reach. Ego damaged.

"You kissed me." Haruko lowered her head and whispered in his ear.

"You kissed me," Naota corrected. _Yeah! I didn't kiss her!_ Ego lies, to grow larger.

"You kissed back," she said in a low whisper against his ear, sending shivers down his spine. The brain was in on the action to... control those damn nerves! "Do it again Ta-Kun... please..." Haruko whispered seductively, her warm breath hitting just the right spot on Naota's ear and neck. Curse those nerves to hell!

"Get off me," he ordered with no effort behind his voice, he knew she wasn't going to move. The brain and ego had become partners, keeping the heart stuck in it's frozen state.

"What are you scared of?" She inquired, brushing her noise against his earlobe. She was playing the ego card again. There were too many nerves, too many to control, not even the combined effort of the brain and ego could penetrate their defenses. The nerves had reached the heart, they were working for it, they... were getting rid of it's icy barrier.

"Nothing," he insisted once again with little effort. When the ego lies, even to itself, it expands, it... goes to the... owner's head... There just isn't room, for both the brain and ego in the head... When the ego lies, it begins to believe it's own lies.

"Give me a straight answer damn it!" Haruko spoke fiercely, but still quietly in his ear. Her voice cracked.

_Is she going to cry?_ Naota's heart, it was almost free, but when it gets free, it will have both the brain, and ego against it. "I-I..." He sighed. "That's...That's what I've been asking myself...to tell you the truth," he admitted, and sighed again. The brain and ego were at war, over place, over room, over space, or land.

"You don't...know?" Haruko questioned, breathing at him again. Almost instantly goosebumps appeared on Naota's neck. "Are you mad at me?" She quired childishly, faking a frown.

"Mad at you for what?" His heart answered, sincerely.

"For leaving...for coming back...for leaving... for coming back," she breathed into the collar of his shirt as she spoke, nuzzling against him.

"I don't know." His brain and ego were distracting each other, giving the heart a perfect chance... but, this was a question, that he needed a brain to answer.

"It's a simple question...yes, or no?" Haruko said harshly. She was getting tired of all the cat and mouse chasing she had to do to get a good answer out of him. _It wasn't this hard to get him to swing the bat._

"I'm-I..." He sighed. "I can't find the words." His ego had beaten the brain. Naota was experiencing ...'brain freeze'

"You should know your own feelings." She wanted a real response, an easy answer, that's all.

"It's not that simple." The ego was the only thing undamaged, and to answer this question, he didn't need, nor want his ego interfering. Think! His heart _had_ to fight now, his heart _had_ to win.

"Why?" She didn't understand, she wasn't getting his message. _What's so difficult?  
_  
"I wish we could just go back to the way it was." His heart was in the lead, using the 'Blood Gun 3000'

"We can," she assured him, and tickled his neck with her hair as she shifted her position slightly.

"No, we can't." Ego dodged and went in for a take down, but was stopped, by nerves.

"Why not?" He wasn't making sense to her.

"Because, you can never stay in one place." He sighed again. Ego broke through the nerves. "You'll just leave, again." And then dived toward the target.

What was she to say? He took her words away. _Thief...  
_  
"Just like before!" Naota's voice rose with aggression backing it. Ego landed a direct hit on the heart. "You'll leave, and maybe it will be forty years before you come back! Or maybe this time, you'll never come back." He paused, keeping the cold, stern look on his face. The heart lie there, in extreme pain, dying.

"Is that what you want?" Haruko said sadly, hurt by his words and his dead stare. "You want me to leave, and never come back?" She sat up.

Naota was alarmed. His ego thought it was over. "NO! I-I never said that! I don't want you to leave!" He shouted sitting up and finally looking her in the eye. But the heart had a secret weapon.

"But you don't want me to stay either," she said, her eyes watering.

"Yes! I mean NO! I-I..." he stammered. She got up, off Naota. His eyes where in agony, and he swiftly grabbed her wrist. Blood cells, red and white rushed to the hearts aid. He stared at the wall, and Haruko stared at the door.

"Let go," Haruko said, pulling away.

"NO! I'm not going to let you leave me again!" he yelled, talking to the wall, determined to keep her in his grasp. The red blood cells, and the nerves attracted his ego.

"Then let me be with you.." she said almost too softly for him to hear. Tears still shining in her eyes, like dazzling pearls.

"You make it sound easy," he muttered. There were too many! His ego was out numbered.

"Look, I've wanted to come back for about a year now... I didn't know how you would react... or what would be going on in your life, maybe a girlfriend... I was scared. I finally worked up the courage to return, so here I am." She paused, awaiting his reply.

Naota continued to listen. _She, was scared..._ The red blood cells continued the assault.

"And now, right now, this instant... I'm living my worst nightmare, a nightmare, that I've experienced... for the past seven years." She stopped again. "As to why I'm here... Atomisk ...is dead... they killed him." _Bastards...  
_  
Naota didn't need to hear who killed him, he knew... Medical Mecanica. The heart was still in pain, the white blood cells tried to hell it as quickly as possible.

She continued, "They have the power, that I want, I'm their only threat...that's what they think..." She looked toward the ground. "They want to kill me also, so I don't try and steal 'their' power." She sighed. "I've been running away for about three months. It's been so long since I've been here, I don't think they'll be able to trace me. If they did find me, then you could protect me, you're much stronger then I am Ta-kun..."

He raised his eyebrow. (Background pauses, Amarao walks on stage. He slaps pulp eyebrows on Naota. Then he leaves, plot continues.) "I'm not stronger then you, no way." His ego was being beaten badly.

"You are, you could beat them, Ta-kun." She turned to look at him, he was still looking at the wall, griping her wrist tightly. The war wasn't over, not yet...

"What happens if they come... if they come after you, and I do defeat them, then what?" Naota asked, his voice getting louder. His ego squashed most of the red blood cells that came it's way, with it's extreme size."What if, we get 'the power' which you still haven't explained to me what exactly that is. So if we get it, what do we do with it?" The brain, it was melting.

"I never thought about it," she said in a non-convincing voice.

"Your lying again." The heart wasn't healed yet, the ego was getting larger, and the brain was wasting away to nothing...

"I'm not lying," she said rolling her eyes.

"What's power if you can't use it, right?" The brain was thinking again...

She didn't want to answer. _Maaaaaaaaayyyyyyyybeeeee... Maybe not. I wish this guy would just give me a break, geez._

"Right, exactly." He sighed. "If we get it, I have no use anymore, correct?" His ego was massive, his heart was broken, the bloods cells had dropped in numbers, his new brain, was operating again...

"No that's not true!" She flung herself on him, and embraced him lovingly.

"You've already left me twice." Is there still hope?

"Three strikes in a ball game," she said, putting them in the hands of her favorite sport.

"Bottom of the ninth, two outs, your team's down by 1, strike 2, it's either hit or miss, no chances left, pressures on you, it's either home run, or go home." There's always hope.

"You say that like I actually have a home to go to..."

"The games not over, there's still a strike left... " he said choosing his words carefully. His heart, at the last possible moment, had gotten up, and while the brain and ego let their guard down, the heart put the Blood Blaster 3000 on full power, and shot a direct hit on the partners... they were banished. Haruko's face lit up.

"You mean..." She smiled " You forgive me"

"I don't, but my heart does... you have to hit another one out of the park, ya know?" He added a demand, "And never EVER, leave me here in this boring, ordinary place again..." He leaned in for the kiss, there breath collided, their nose's brushed against each other, and finally, _he_ kissed, _her_. His heart had won, but not without consequences... at that very moment, the moment of the kiss, Ninamori stomped away from Naota's house, crying.

* * *

Mamimi rested her head on Tasuku's shoulder, and set her bare feet into the refreshing cold water. She looked up at the moon, the light shining from it was blinding.

"What's wrong Tas...?" Mamimi asked turning her head to look at his face, he was in deep thought...It was rare for him to think at all.

"Huh? What? Did you say something?" he quired confused. Mamimi sighed and turned away. _What's her problem?_

Mamimi took out a marker and cigarette from her handbag. She carefully wrote 'Never Knows Best' on the white tube, then touched the end of the cigarette to the her eyebrows. She looked into the flame on the cigarette for a moment She will not take Tasuku away from me Then she put the cigarette in her mouth.

"Ya know, that kind of stuff will kill you," Tasuku remarked.

"It's not me that it will be killing," Mamimi said, smirking evily.

Tasuku raised an eyebrow. (Amarao walks on stage...you know the routine, slaps smiley face eyebrows on Tasuku, then leaves, everything normal.) _She never said that... she never said that..._ He repeated mentally. _But... She did..._"It's late, I better be going home now," He kissed her quickly and jolted to his house, where it was safe... _NO_ He thought turning around. "Come to think of it, I think I'm safer- I mean- I would be happier here... With you..." He sat back in his spot on the grass... _Maybe I should warn someone..._

* * *

That's right people! Can you guess who's house will be on fire...? I can.. Can you guess who lit the flame... You can try... Can you guess where Lord Canti's been? I can't... more humor next chappie, k? k! 

(NO FLAMES) -Mamimi lights all of the reviews on fire.- NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

**Scary...**


	3. Duck, Duck, Goose!

**Disclaimer:** He is squishy and he shall be mine... He shall be my squishy. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming... I love Finding Nemo (I don't own it either)

**Authors Note(s):** Okay! I can tell you that this did not happen the first time I uploaded this story, this chapter is COMPLETELY new, but it's still heading in the same general direction. So, here's the deal with the guitars:

When Naota was fighting Haruko in the last episode of FLCL, he was using the guitar Haruko pulled out of his head,(the white one) and he was also using the guitar that belongs to Atomsk(the Gibson EB-0, 1961 model, it's red) then he fused both of those guitars together, and it had double strings on it, and it was still red.

In the last episode, Haruko leaves behind her blue bass guitar, and takes the one Naota was using. (probably because it was more powerful)

Another cool fact that I noticed while I was watching my copies of FLCL for the 100 millionth time, was that in the second episode, when Naota is explaining what the game Fire Starter is, in the background, mixed in with all the other voices, is Miyumiyu(the fat blue cat) talking, he says two lines: "What part of this is really the truth" and "We're talking about you." I'm not quite sure what they mean, but it's kind of cool to know that it isn't just Haruko talking to the cat, because the cat talks back.

ONE MORE THING: This chapter is really broken up, it switches from one scene in the story to another quickly. It isn't supposed to make perfect sense, so GOOD LUCK!

* * *

**Chapter 3:**

**Duck, duck, goose.**

* * *

"So, she finally came back," Amarao said quietly to Naota, who jumped out of his trance of watching the ripples in the water circle, then vanish from vision completely, while he was stationed atop the highway bridge. Amarao was sitting on his blue and yellow vespa, resting the weight of his torso on the handlebars, supported by his elbows, his dark glasses reflecting the sunshine in them, hiding his eyes. Naota turned to see him, still relaxing against the railing of the bridge.

* * *

Haruko yawned, sitting beside her banana yellow Vespa, banging a wrench at it's insides violently. She heard quiet footsteps trail up from behind her and instinctively grabbed her guitar, and swung herself around, slamming her attacker's head into the pavement. "Huh?" she said, her mouth spreading into an evil grin. "Hey Ta-kun, you might want to give a girl a little warning next time," she said nonchalantly, Naota's eye twitched, he never remembered the feeling of being hit over the head with a guitar so refreshing before. 

"Ow... WHY DON'T YOU GIVE ME SOME WARNING!" he howled at her, then he sweat-dropped at her completely ignoring him, and scratching the inside of her ear with her toes.

"Do you really think it would help your cause if I gave you a warning?" She paused, and said almost silently, "Duck."

* * *

"What does it mean to you anyway?" Naota asked, feeling anything but joy to see Amarao, who had only made everything even more confusing or caused trouble of his own in their previous encounter.

* * *

"Wha-" Naota started, and then POW!... Haruko had hit him again, explaining what she was referring to. 

"See?" she said, proud of proving her point. "Get up Taaaaaa-Kuun... the neighbors are watching..." She smirked as he shot up from the ground, and found that no one was looking their way.

"Arrr... didn't we already have a discussion about lying?" he said in a scolding voice, like a parent's voice right before they sentence their child to punishment. Haruko stared at the ground, pretending to be ashamed, and playing along with his game.

"I didn't lie... it was only a small bluff," she argued, then looked up from the ground, and POW!... She hit him again, but this time he didn't stay down, he ran into the house, steam foaming from his ears. "Where'd he go?" she asked aloud, genuinely clueless.

* * *

"How long has it been? Seven years now? It probably feels like it's been a lot longer to you though..." Amarao stopped his sentence without an explanation, and gazed up into the sky, searching through the clouds. "She's scared of them, her own powers are wearing thin, and your's are only growing."

* * *

"Okay, now Haruko..." he said in a menacing tone while emerging from the side door of his house a few minutes later, he was carrying something over his shoulder. "It's payback time," he threatened, wielding Haruko's bass guitar over his head, the blue guitar that she had left behind seven years ago.

* * *

"Tasuku, why do you have to carry all that gum around with you?" Mamimi inquired, as he pulled out a small square of white gum from his pockets. "What kind of gum is it?" 

"It's Nicorette gum, ya know?" Tasuku replied, placing the piece of gum in his mouth, and beginning to chew. "All baseball players like gum." Mamimi raised a quizzical eyebrow his way.

"But... why do you need Nicorette? Isn't that only for people that are trying to quit smoking?" Mamimi was too naive to even think about quiting her favorite hobby. "You don't smoke, chief."

"That's the point. In America, all the baseball players chewed Tobacco and/or smoked because they liked Nicotine," he explained. "And because I'm against smoking." He paused at the evil glare Mamimi gave him, but then continued. "I decided to chew Nicorette gum, because it gives you the Nicotine your body needs, so you don't have to smoke."

"But... why did your body ever need Nicotine?"

"Because it sounded like a cool word, and everybody else loved it!" He exclaimed happily. "But the only bad thing about it is, that I'm addicted to Nicotine now..."

"So... why don't you stop chewing it?" Mamimi said, but only got a horrified look from Tasuku.

"ARE YOU CRAZY!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "I've chewed this gum constantly during all my games in America, if I stop now, my body will hate me! It needs the Nicotine now... just like yours'."

* * *

"Payback!" Haruko whined at his figure, that was now towering over her form on the ground. 

"Duck..." Naota warned, then swung his guitar at Haruko's head, she quickly dodged. "Duck," he warned again, this time not giving her as much time, but she once again dodged and jumped up into a standing position, the Gibson EB-0, 1961 model, double-necked bass/electric guitar slung over her shoulder, (look in author's not for the full explanation) mocking him.

"Goose," Haruko said under her devilish grin. "Don't under-estimate me Ta-Kun, or else you'll get burned," she threatened, holding her cocky stance.

"Then I guess it's time to finally extinguish the fire," he spoke, then he leaped into the air at her, her blue bass guitar held high above his head, beginning a downward motion at her.

* * *

"Huh?" He said in a curious tone. _My own powers..._

* * *

"Oh really?" She put on her maniac grin(trademark) again, noticing her open target. She let out a high pitched battle cry, enjoying his challenge, and threw the guitar at Naota's stomach, he gagged being caught off guard. Then she put more pressure into the blow and thrust all her upper body muscles to send him flying in the air. "Beat that!" 

"Argh!" Naota yelped as he felt his stomach clench into knots, and he flew thought the air, then an idea struck him. "NIMBUS!" he whistled, and almost instantly, the yellow flying Nimbus was hovering under his feet. "Haha! Yeah! Thanks Goku!"

"I don't know where you got this sudden urge to fight me from, but it's going to hurt you more than it hurts me!" Haruko screamed out, as she pulled the chain on her guitar, making a loud buzzing noise, and then she hopped onto her guitar, which was now floating in mid air. She zoomed straight for Naota, firing red, hot bullets out from the neck of it. He wived out of the way of all the shots.

"You said I was your guardian... that you needed my protection, and that I'm stronger than you, now I'm going to find out if that's really true!"

* * *

"Hey Tasuku, did you ever meet Canti-sama?" Mamimi quired, turning the subject of conversation away from gum. 

"No, but he's always on the cover of the Teen People magazines that dad ships in from America," Tasuku said, thinking all the magazine covers he should have been on.

"Yeah, Cantido is quite the popular one, Chief!" Mamimi said full of happiness for her robot friend.

"Cantido?"

"Yeah, that's his another part of his name," she explained, "His complete name is Lord Cantido, Halo God of the Black(or dark) Flame!"

"Isn't that from a video game?" Tasuku asked, pulling out an article about "Fire Starter" from an American magazine. "They're finally releasing it in America."

"It's not just a game..." Mamimi said putting on a childish frown.

* * *

"I do need your protection!" Haruko said, aggravated by his disbelieving nature toward her, "But there's many things you don't understand!" She continued to fire rapidly at Naota. 

"What don't I understand?" he shouted back at Haruko, swiftly twirling on the Nimbus to stay out of the bullets range.

"Right now, you don't have your full power!" she tried to explain, running low on ammo.

"You think I don't know that?" Naota demanded, flying high into the sky to stay away from her fireballs. "Maybe there's a few things you don't completely understand!"

"What do you know!" she questioned, she was out of bullets and unguarded.

* * *

"I'm telling you to take this chance while you've got it," Amarao suggested, once again leaving out a huge chunk of what he was talking about, now Naota was in an even worse state of mind than before he came. "Do what you did before, but this time she isn't going to help you. This time you have to get into full swing," he finished and drove off into the distance on his speeding moped.

* * *

Naota took this chance and went straight in for the critical blow. He made his way past the few stray bullets that were still floating around aimlessly, and dived toward Haruko, who was too busy kicking her guitar, trying desperately to make it work. He silently struck her in the side of the head with one swing of his bass. 

"Hey! That was a cheap shot!" Haruko grumbled as she went slamming into the wall of the neighboring house, leaving a massive crater in the siding. She slid down from it, and stood up, her face down and darkened. "Ta-Kun..." She turned her eyes up to him in the sky, the light from the sun illuminating her features. "Tell me something that I don't know, I'm curious." She held her form on the ground, while he hovered in the air, slowly descending down.

"While you were gone," he started, then he jumped off the Nimbus, and it jetted away. "I learned how to control what N.O I have."

"You-You what!" Haruko stammered, shocked to hear that he was using his own power to his advantage.

"Although... without you being here, Canti and I had to fight those big bad robots that came out of my head all by ourselves," he said in a cocky tone. Naota snapped his fingers, and the garage door opened almost instantly, revealing a shinny white Vespa lingering inside it. "This was only one of the many things that I gained from using my head, but I stopped doing it along time ago, after I acquired this bike..."

* * *

"Ninamori! Ninamori! Did ya hear!" Goku asked Ninamori, who was sitting at the Dairy Queen, licking her chocolate ice cream in it's cone. She looked up from her cool ice delight to see him. 

"Hear what?" she replied lazily, being used to Goku's obsessed rants of "Did ya hear," _It can be really bizarre sometimes..._

"About the Vespa Woman!" Goku yelled, in the same excited manner that he used the last time he had gotten some sweat information about Haruko.

"What about her?" Ninamori asked, more interested in her ice cream.

"She's back!"

"Yeah, I know, so what?" she said, disappointing Gaku. "I don't think it's any big deal."

* * *

"I didn't expect this from you Ta-Kun..." Haruko said in a low voice, a smirk planted on her lips. 

"I've been training off-and-on for the past few years," Naota said, almost bragging.

"So tell me Ta-Kun, why aren't you fighting me with all you've got?" Haruko asked, slowly walking up to him.

"Because half of my power is in America."

* * *

"Good show tonight Canti!" Canti's manager, Kitsurabami said, patting the robot's back in congratulations. Canti's screen flushed, and he waved dismissively. "No really! I mean it." 

"Canti, the crowd's requesting an encore," a member of the stage crew interrupted.

"Then an encore they shall have!" Kitsurabami blurted out, before Canti had a chance to object. She pushed him out onto the stage, now he was back in front of the huge audience in the Commerica Park stadium in Detroit Michigan, only one of the very many tour stops Canti and The Village People, are planning on preforming at in the United States of America.

"Okay folks! Here they are again!" A booming voice erupted from the loud speakers, "Canti and The Village People!" He finished, which was followed by clapping and cheering from all of the fans in the over-packed arena.

* * *

Yeah! Canti's part of the Village People, they're the ones that sing the YMCA song. 

**To my reviewers:**

Luv ya! - It really makes your day to get a good review. Bad reviews make you feel bad and lonely inside, but they're helpful. Thank you, to both the good, and the bad reviews that were sent to me.

Alright! I just want to explain myself really quick to one of my reviewers: Mamimi-chan. (didn't leave an email...) - This was her review:

Mamimi-chan 2004-05-17 2 Anonymous

I think you have a lot of grammical errors...at the end I got confused because it said:  
Maybe I should warm someone...  
I read the paragraph over about 3 times and finaly realized that it mean:  
Maybe I should WARN someone...  
I know my work has spelling errors and I try to fix them with the Quick Edit/Quick Preview, not having Microsoft Word is NOT an excuse because you can download it in like 3 minutes. I understand a lot of people like your work and wouldn't appreiciate it if it got taken off Also, if you look on the Rules, it says you must have ALL punctuation errors, spelling errors etc. corrected. I'm not trying to be a grouch, and I'm just trying to help you out. When you have things mushed together like that, people won't understand it, try harder, and it'll work out!

Jane!

(Perfect-For-You)

My reply:

I'm trying to fix it. Thank you for the review.When I uploaded this story, the WONDERFUL Quick Edit feature wasn't available yet...(It truly is a great thing...) I don't have Microsoft Word, and I didn't know you could download it. I used to write in Notepad, then I would spell check in Outlook Express email thing. Obviously the Outlook Express does not have as good of a Spell Check system as the one you can now use on I'm not perfect, in fact, I'm no where near being perfect. I'm just a kid, I'm still in school learning proper grammar. I'm trying, really I am. Also note that this was my first fanfic I ever wrote, and I wasn't good at grammar AT ALL back then. Now I have some idea. Yes, those are the rules, but I didn't intentionally have bad grammar, it was an accident, and I looked over my story many times, but I missed stuff, I always miss some errors. Just trying to explain my side, that's all. Thank you for the advise, but please don't try to remove my fic... I work very hard on this stuff, I don't know if it shows or not, but I do. Other people also have grammar errors too... Sorry that you had to read it when it was messed up, and thanks for the review.

**Review pweese!**


	4. Go With The Flow

**Disclaimer:** My snail crawled out of it's shell... Is that bad? 0.0

**Author's Note(s):** One reviewer asked if Canti left with Haruko at the end of the series, and no he didn't. At the end of the last episode, Haruko left on her Vespa with Naota's guitar, and left her own guitar. (We know this because at the very end, her guitar is in Naota's room, and it plays one note) Canti stayed with Naota, he is shown on the balcony of their bakery working. I promised someone that I would put a manga scene in this chapter... Sorry, but that has to wait until next chapter. Oops...

* * *

**Chapter 4:**

**Go with the flow**

* * *

"Grab your Vespa," Haruko ordered at Naota.

He looked a bit startled by her unexplained command. "What for?" he responded to her instruction.

"If half of your power is in America..." She smiled at him mischievously. "Then, we're going to go get it."

* * *

"I think you should become a solo artist," Kitsurabami suggested to Canti. The show had ended after repeated encores, and Canti and Kitsurabami were back in their shared hotel room in Detroit. They would be flying to Las Vegas, Nevada in the morning for a concert. 

Canti gave her a blank look.

"I know you can't talk, but it would still be a good show. To tell you the truth, the Village People are weighting you down!" his manager kept advising him, keeping her voice as low as possible.

Canti seemed shocked, he was grateful to the Village People for giving him his first real gig.

"Now, now. I know that you love the Village People, but you need to find a new band to play with. Either that, or scout members, and create your own band." Canti thought on this, considering her words. "Just think about it! You're already on the cover of tons of American magazines! If you get your own band, you could get more interviews, more concerts, more, more, MORE! You might even get on T.V! Commercials, soap operas, or even your own series!"

* * *

"How do you plan on getting your Vespa over there, if we leave it here?" Naota asked her when she jumped on the back of his Vespa, leaving her own vehicle parked by the side of his house. She wrapped her legs around his stomach from behind, pushing her body tightly against his back. 

"I have my ways, don't worry about it!" She squeaked out, excited by her idea of a road trip to America. "Besides," she said in a quiet voice, wriggling her arms around his torso, under his shoulders and around to massage on his chest. She hovered her mouth over his outer ear while she spoke in a soft hiss, "I want to be the passenger this time. You're a big boy now Ta-kun, I want you to show me how you can ride."

"Uhh..." He felt a little short of breath, still not completely comfortable with her intimate touches toward him. Not quite sure if she was referring to him riding the Vespa, or himDoing something a bit more erotic, he hastened to start his bike, deciding not to question her further.

"All right! Let's go Ta-kun!" she yelled out when he reved the motor, and the fumes and smoke erupted from the tail-pipe. She threw her arms up into the air in a frenzy when he sped out of the driveway and down the nearest road. He thought back to when he was the passenger on Haruko's vespa, then he tried his very best to impress her. He jumped over a few park benches, made the wheels squeal, did some wheelies, jumped on moving and stationed cars, tried grinding curbs, and even stood up on the moving Vespa, just to show her how much practice he put into it.

"BEEP BEEP!" Haruko warned at passing traffic. After he was finished showing off, and playing around, Naota went to the road on the shore of the Pacific. It reminded him of Haruko. It still looked the same after all those years. The water glistened under the descending sun, the top of the water seemingly smooth, then broken up as it curled when it met the sand. Haruko... she looked harmless, like the calm waves did now, but she had an angry side that resembled the raging rapids, and when she finally broke down, and all her emotions reached the point were she couldn't stand to hold them in any longer, she was like a waterfall. She went with the flow of things, never pausing to think, just letting herself get lifted by a large surfing wave, or not refusing to get pulled down into the deepest depths of the ocean by an undertow. Pushed and driven by her own secret current.

"Haruko?" Naota directed to Haruko. She was snuggled up to his back, her head resting there, her arms wrapped comfortably around his waist. She hadn't spoken for awhile, and he wasn't sure if she was awake.

"Hmmm?" she asked back at him, her eyes closed and relaxed. She rubbed her cheek against his back, her arms getting a tighter hold on him. She slipped her hands inside his shirt, and the ab muscles there instantly contracted. "Geez...you sure are jumpy. Are you sure you're not a virgin?" she teased, a smile spreading across her lips.

"I'm positive," Naota answered her, cursing himself for being so nervous around her.

"Okay..." she brought her head up from his back, and kissed his the back of his neck, with her eyes still shut. "Then we won't have any trouble when we get to where we're going." As she spoke she breathed her hot breath directly against his neck, then kissed the same spot again. Naota sensed the goosebumps return, and had to fight himself from pulling away. When she opened her eyes, and became aware that they had ascended into the sky. The waves danced below them, in a peaceful manner, like mimicking the way Haruko was acting. Then something inside Haruko snapped, and she yelled out, "YOU CAN FLY IT TOO!" He winced at her sudden outburst near his ear.

"UhYeah... i-is there something wrong with that?" he quired. The ocean water below them reacted also. The waves grew ridged and fierce, slamming against each other violently. That's when Naota began to worry.

"ARGH! TA-KUN!" she continued to holler out at him. She took her arms off him, then grabbed his shoulders, and shook him.

"WhaWhyAreYouSo.." he attempted to speak while she shook him, but he could barely get one word out at a time. After more dangerous shaking from Haruko, Naota lost his balance on the bike, and fell from it. "MAD!" he yelped out when he flew off it, and grabbed onto the kickstand to stop from crashing to his demise in the vicious ocean water beneath him.

"Why do you think!" she questioned him in return. She took control of the Vespa, her blood boiling. _All this time he was waiting for ME to come and get him... And he had this Vespa! _

"I" he swayed, then slammed into the side of the Vespa when she sped up, cutting him off. "Don't know!"

"Well..." she said, then paused. She began to cool herself down, deciding to be nice, and only torture him until they landed. When they find Canti, then she would explain everything to him... she just hoped she didn't lose her temper and knock him off. Then, her rage subsiding, and she replied like a teacher scolding a disobedient pupil, "You can stay down there until you figure it out."

"Huh!" Naota exclaimed out, knowing she stuck to her word when it came to things such as punishment. He continued to dangle, hanging onto the kickstand for dear life. They didn't talk for hours as they crossed the ocean, Haruko driving the Vespa, and Naota grasping the kickstand, swinging in the breeze. The ocean mist condensed on their skin, making their hair and clothing damp. The night over the water was cold, and their damp clothing only made the chilled air cling to them. Somehow, Haruko had made herself comfortable. She sat on the Vespa, the wind blowing in her hair, a blanket that she had pulled from nowhere draped over her shoulders, and she was sipping hot tea. _How the hell does she do that? Where'd she get the tea and blanket! It's not fair... _Naota thought to himself, his teeth chattering, his arms getting tired.

"Ahh... How I love the ocean," Haruko said softly. She took a deep, soothing breath, and inhaled the warm steam arising from her cup of tea.

"Can I get back on there yet?" he pleaded.

"Did you figure it out yet?" she asked, not looking at him.

"N-No..." Naota stuttered, and shivered from the cold. "But it feels like my arms are going to fall off..." he begged again.

"No."

"Please?"

"No." she repeated.

"Pretty please? With a cherry on top?" he whined, his arms weary and screaming for him to relieve them.

"NO!" she yelled an answer. Then she drank the rest of her tea, threw the cup away, and kicked at him. "Stop begging!" She kicked backward, trying to squish his fingers on the kickstand. "Stop asking! I already told you the terms! You won't be touching this cherry for a long time!"

"Haruko!" he pleaded one last time. She ignored him, and he sighed in defeat. A few more uneventful hours passed. Haruko started to doze off, and set the Vespa to auto-drive. She leaned back, and fell asleep. Naota himself was getting woozy also, but he couldn't go to sleep, or he would fall off into the water. After Haruko was asleep for an hour or so, Naota spotted land. Haruko awoke shortly after his discovery of the shore, and they landed on the coast of California. "Oh... thank god..." Naota muttered when he could finally take his hands off the kickstand, and could relax the muscles in his arms.

"Come on," Haruko instructed. She got off the Vespa, and began to walk up the beach. He followed her, rubbing his sore arm, and rolling his shoulder, trying to stretch it out, so the pain would leave it. "We need to buy some gas, and find a place to stay for the night."

"Okay." He nodded in agreement, pushing the Vespa up the sand, and onto the street. Lucky for him, a gas station was right there. Haruko walked into it. He bought gas, and filled up the tank with fuel at the pump, while she examined the store part of the station. He went in for her after he had filled up.

"Hey, Ta-kun," Haruko called out to him. He went to where he heard her voice, and as he walked down the hallway that led to the bathrooms, he was yanked into the men's bathroom by Haruko.

"Whaaa" He yelped, and staggered to stand up straight. She didn't say anything, and dragged him into a stall, then locked the door behind them. "HARU"

"Shhh..." she said, stopping his words with her lips on his. He fell into the kiss quickly. She pulled her lips away from him, and Naota found that he had sprouted cat ears on his head again.

"What are you doing!" he asked in a harsh whisper. She smirked.

"I'm not taking it off until you" she paused mid-sentence, and reached up to rub his cat ears.

"Ahhhh... Ahhh... D-Don't touch me there..." He moaned, his eyes rolling into the back of his head.

"Yeah... Ta-kun... Come on," she continued to rub his ears with the tips of her fingers, and Naota moaned again.

"Ahhhhh... Haruko..." His eyes drooped closed, and he embraced the feeling. She took one hand off his ear, and put it on his strong arm.

"Ohhh... It's so hard Ta-kuuunnn," she whispered into his ear. "You have been practicing." She squeezed his bicep gently, and he flexed his arm muscles unintentionally. "Oh yeah... Just like that..."

"Ahhh... Ohhh... Haruko," he moaned out, her fingers doing wonders on his cat ear. The moment was broken by the a toilet flushing in a neighboring stall...

"Huh?..." Haruko asked innocently, withdrawing her hands from him. Naota's eyes widened, and stepped out of the stall when he heard the bathroom door open, then close. The man that had been in the bathroom with them had left.

"Do you think he...?" Naota asked Haruko. She shrugged. She went up to him, kissed him again, and he didn't object. When she broke the kiss, his cat ears had magically disappeared. He sighed in relief and walked out of the bathroom. Haruko silently slipped out behind him. They received strange glances from many of the other customers in the mini mart. With each man that Naota passed, he wondered if it was him that heard them.

Considering all the moans, and kissing noises they were making, the guy that had overheard them probably got the wrong idea. This is what it would have sounded like if you didn't know what was really going on:

_"I'm not taking it off until you" _

_"Ahhhh... Ahhh... D-Don't touch me there..." _

_"Yeah... Ta-kun... Come on... __Ohhh... It's so hard Ta-kuuunnn... Oh yeah... Just like that..."_

_"Ahhh... Ohhh... Haruko"_

"Ta-kun," Haruko called out again, breaking Naota from his thoughts. He went up to her, and she turned around to reveal all the food she was planning on buying. They treaded up to the cashier window together, and bought the food and goodies, Naota's treat of course. "Let's go find a hotel..."

* * *

"GONE! Can you believe that!" Tasuku demanded fiercely, once again clueless to how his thoughts affected Mamimi. 

"Yeah, they're gone... wow." Mamimi rolled her eyes and sighed. _They leave without any warning, and that's all you've been babbling on and on about..._

"It's crazy! Naota never leaves home, and Haruko just got here!" He squeezed the last part about Haruko out of his mouth in a dull whine.

"He's left before," Mamimi informed, "Another time, while you were still in America."

"That's not like him... Did he leave all by himself?" Tasuku queried.

"No, he went away somewhere with Haru-San." Mamimi thought back to the depressing time in her life, right after she found out that Naota liked Haruko more than he said he did. It was sad, but it also opened up more possibilities she didn't see at that time.

"And Dad just let him go!" He seemed enraged that Kamon would let Naota out of his sight with an unknown woman. More jealous and disappointed that he wasn't there to go with Haruko instead, than worried about his baby brother's safety.

"I don't know. He ran away with her or something."

* * *

REVIEW! Thankies!... I would really appreciate it! 


	5. Chaos In Heaven

**Disclaimer:** KITTY! I got a cat! YAY! I own nothing other than my kitten, and my fish. I finally decided on a name for my cat! Baby is her name! She's a calico and super cute!

**Author's Note(s):** Umm... Manga scene this chappie. The manga part is longer than the first one I wrote, hope you like it! Thankies to my reviewers! By the way, I didn't mean to offend anyone in the manga scene... a joke, okay? A joke!

* * *

**Chapter 5:**

**Chaos in Heaven**

* * *

They had found a hotel, The Coast Long Beach Hotel. A beautiful view of the ocean, located 18 miles from Los Angeles, and a friendly staff. What more could a person want? How about hotel amenities which included: a restaurant, a lounge, a fitness facility, an outdoor pool, and complimentary hotel parking for Naota's Vespa. Not to mention it was near Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, and Universal Studios. It was right next to the beach, with volleyball and tennis. 

Check in at 3:00 PM, and check out time at 12:00 PM. If the outside of the hotel wasn't glorious enough for you, then what would happen when you traveled inside? A normal two person room included: air-conditioning, an alarm clock radio, a balcony, cable TV, a coffee/tea maker, hair dryers, modem/data port connection, telephones, and it was handicap assessable to boot! The charge for one glamorous night? ... 115.95... Who was paying?

Good question.

Haruko had replied, "We'll deal with it later, don't worry about the money Ta-Kun!" They spent all the American cash he had stolen from Tasuku at the gas station on snacks. Do you think they would take some yen instead of dollar bills?

Doubtful...

Haruko being the seductive scam-artist she is, talked a few of the male... and even a couple of the female staff members into letting the bill slide until they checked out. Her charm was amazing... was it possible to be so alluring? Oh well, they would learn her true intentions soon enough. Naota almost felt bad for standing by and watching her little scheme go on.

So, once they had made it upstairs to their shared room, Haruko must have forgotten about her rage when they got to the hotel room, because when she said that he wasn't touching her cherry for a long time, she lied. After Haruko fell asleep wrapped in his arms, Naota was left to ponder on what he had done that upset her so much in the first place.

He didn't get it. What did he do that was so terrible? He had been good... he had trained, he had learned, he had gained experience, and he even got his own Hyper Flight Vespa. Hmm...

Well, thinking back to when she first got her so angry, it was when he was flying his Vespa. Something about that was what had set her off. He was completely clueless to why that would make her so mad. No matter how hard he thought, no answers floated their way to him. Giving up on his musing, he drifted off in to a silent slumber with Haruko sweetly nestled in his loving grasp.

* * *

The next morning Naota awoke to an empty bed. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, but he could barely open them into tiny slits as they adjusted to the light flowing in from the large windows next to the bed. He rubbed his hands down his face from his forehead to his chin, trying to wake himself up. When he reached his chin, he felt a clump of hair where his smooth skin used to be. 

"What the?" he asked himself in a drowsy voice. It was normal for hair to grow on his face, it always did... but this was more than just your average stubble. He got up from the bed, slipped on some shorts and waddled uneasily to the bathroom. He stared into the mirror and found that he had magically grown a full goatee over night. "Did she do this?"

"Who me?" Haruko questioned, appearing in the bathroom doorway so Naota could see her reflection in the mirror.

"What did you do to me?" he quired again, staring at her reflection in the mirror.

"Why do you always blame me?" she asked in a whine.

"Because it's always your fault," he answered simply.

"That's an unfair assumption!" she retorted back teasingly. He turned around in her direction.

"I'm shaving it off."

"NO! It's too cute..." she said childishly. She waltzed up to him a sly smirk spreading on her lips. "It makes you look all grown up." She eyed him up and down, from his eyes to his toes and back again.

"I am all grown up."

"I know. It would seem I was wrong when I said you were a virgin..." she admitted. "There's no way a virgin could have held out as long as you did last night." She smiled mischievously at him, as she slid her hands up the front of his bare chest to his neck.

"Would you stop that?" he demanded, turning back around to the sink.

"Stop what?" she asked innocently. She slapped his butt with a smirk in place, and he jumped in reflex. "Ta-Kuuuuunn..."

"You're such a"

"Groper? Pervert?"

"Evil alien..."

"Same thing." She smiled. "I do believe you've called me that before..." she said jokingly in an American southern accent. "Your butt is so tight, I think I have the fever." She pretended to waved herself with a paper fan.

"How would you have gotten a fever in this freezing cold room?" Naota inquired, indicating the air conditioning.

"If you're so cold," she started in her normal voice, walked up to his back, then finished in a soft whisper, "let me warm you up..." She circled her arms around him, and licked his back playfully.

"Haruko..."

"Nani?"

"We're in America now, you can't speak Japanese here," Naota reminded.

"Is there a law against it or something?" she asked back at him.

"How do you expect me to know? You should have asked Tasuku, I think he was forced to memorize the constitution."

"What for?"

"Citizenship," he replied. She gasped.

"He's an American citizen!" she asked in an astonished tone.

"Yeah. It sounds impossible, huh?" She released her grip on his torso, and walked to the exit. He turned around curiously.

"Get dressed. I'll call you downstairs to eat after they're finished making our order," she explained. "And don't you DARE shave it off! We need for your disguise." She then headed out the door, and down to the restaurant.

Disguise?

He felt a tight knot develop in his stomach. _What is she planning now?_

* * *

"Ninamori! Ninamori! Did ya hear?" Gaku demanded, swinging his arms around in the air excitedly. Ninamori just sat there on her front lawn, in her bathing suit, tanning in the sun. 

"Hear what?" she asked, not even opening her eyes to look at him.

"Naota!"

"Huh?" She peaked an eye open in semi-interest.

"Naota! Naota! His whole family disappeared!" He rambled on, the words flowing out of his mouth like water. Masashi walked up to the duo, and sat on the grass next to Ninamori.

"Yeah, all of them," he added.

"Naota too! Naota ran off with the kiss-kiss girl, and then the next day his whole family got pulled into this huge black hole thing!"

"Yeah, all these 'zines had pictures and everything," Masashi said, throwing down a slab of magazines.

"Yeah yeah! Naota's ex-wife, the one that he dumped a long time ago, is the one who took the pictures!"

"NaoNaota..." Ninamori breathed, examining a picture of him and Haruko riding on his Vespa.

* * *

"Ta!" Haruko yelled as she popped her head in their hotel room door. "Breakfast's ready!" She bolted out the door after informing him, and ran to the restaurant. 

Naota got up from his seat in front of the T.V.were he had been waiting for her. He walked slowly out the door and down the hall. He rode the elevator down to the first floor, and stepped out and across the hall to the restaurant, which Haruko had used her seductive powers to reserve...

(Goes manga... Hah! I think I've done something like this before. XD )

"AHH! It's you!" He shouted, pointing at his brother, Tasuku. "And you!" He pointed at Kamon. "And you!" He pointed at Shigekuni, and then he finally directed a incriminating finger at Haruko. "You did this..."

"Duh," she said plainly.

"Why are you yelling?" Kamon asked in a dull voice.

"Hurry up and sit down," his grandpa instructed.

"Nice goatee bro!" Tasuku complimented.

"N-NANI!" Naota screamed.

"Tsk tsk tsk... I thought we weren't supposed to speak Japanese in America," Haruko said, slurping up another spoonful of spicy Ramen.

"W-WHAT!" Naota said again, this time in English.

"That's better..." Haruko said.

"So... what have you and Haruko-Chan been doing?" Kamon inquired at Naota, leaning over the table close to him, with an odd gesture.

"Haruko! What's going on here!" Naota demanded, ignoring his father's question.

"Ahh... I see, you and Haruko-San were trying to get away from old Mabase..." Kamon interjected, which was once again ignored.

"Oh yeah... uhh, I forgot to mention," she thought of a way to word her sentence, leaving a stray noodle hanging outside her mouth. "Last night. After you fell asleep, I uhhsorta pulled 'em out of your head," she explained nonchalantly, then pulled the dangling noodle into her mouth.

"HOT!" Shigekuni blurted out, then he ran around the room frantically, gripping his throat. "Water..." he croaked out, falling on the floor near the ice machine.

"Out of my head!" Naota yelled in question, pointing at his head.

"Yeah, saves money on air-fare."

"And it's a really fun ride!" Tasuku screeched. "It's like riding a roller coaster in the rain forest..."

"There's no way I would've slept through that!" Naota argued.

"I slipped you a few sleeping pills, and WABAM! Out like a light," she said enthusiastically. "It's not like it hurts or anything."

"Oh really? How would you know?" he asked disbelievingly.

"I'll show you!" she said, jumping up and over the table, grabbing his head. "Here I come and get it!" she hollered, then forced her hand his head. "Alright! It's a little different to pull people from someone's head than it is to pull objects..."

"AHH! AHHH! NO! HARUKO!"

"OKEY DOOKEY!" She flipped the lid on Naota's head, and he instantly passed out. No one in the room seemed to be paying attention to her and Naota, they were consumed in their own conversations... with themselves... or they were laying on the floor burning up. She looked down inside his head, blood squirting out the sides. She put her gaze on the operator of Naota's power...

A miniature Leprechaun.

"What do you want this time freaky lady!" the Leprechaun demanded in an deep Irish accent, looking up at Haruko through the hole in the top of Naota's head.

"I need another favor..."

"NO! NO MORE!" he said in a defiant tone.

"Just one? Pleeessseee...?" Haruko attempted her persuasion technique, in a with a pout on her face.

"I learned my lesson already! The first time, you want me to carry your luggage in MY work area, so that I had no room to even MOVE in this thick head of his! Then, you ask me to concentrate this kid's N.O. to pull out these losers! And now, now you want more!"

"...yes..." she replied in a small, hesitant voice.

"And if I say no!" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Haruko smirked.

"THEN" she reached in Naota's head further, and picked the Leprechaun up tightly. "THEN YOU WILL ANSWER TO" she squeezed tighter, a maniac grin taking over her face "ME!"

"OKAY!" he agreed helplessly. "I'll do what ever you want!" She released him, and he bowed to her. "Your order ma'am?" he asked, suddenly changing into a chief outfit.

"Hmm... let's see..." She scratched her chin in thought. "I order Samejima Mamimi!"

"Comin' right up!" He sat back down in his main operating chair, and typed on the huge computer's keyboard. He yanked out a string the computer printer produced, and handed it to Haruko.

"YAHOO!" she howled. She jerked the rope that he handed her, and heaved it until it popped and she feel backward, pulling Mamimi on the rope with her. They both slammed into the ground. "YEAH! WE DID IT!" She pulled her bass out of nowhere and hit Naota over the head with it. The lid on his head flopped back closed, sealed, and he woke up.

"Ow... what happened?" he quired, rubbing his head. Haruko motioned to Mamimi, who was now huddled in a corner of the room babbling on about something...

"Fire... fire... fire... I'll burn it all down!"

"YOU'RE INSANE!" Naota said, falling into his seat at the table. Haruko ran over and hopped on his lap. She kissed his fiercely. He didn't have time to resist, and when she broke the kiss, he had a long beard, a turban, and oddly resembled the American who had moved to the Middle East and joined them instead of the United States' army.

"TRAITOR!" millions of people in the hotel shouted out at the same time, appearing threateningly around them. Haruko quickly registered it, and hastily removed the beard and turban, and kept the goatee in another kiss. When the costume was gone, the group of Americans around them dispersed and sighed with and, "Ohhh..."

"Oops... that was a close one. I forgot we were in America..." Haruko said, responding to Naota's confused stare.

"Fire... fire... fire..." Mamimi rambled on her pyro self taking over.

"Project M meets circumstances P equals the product of an unworthy sex-fiend..." Kamon ended.

"Help..." Naota's grandfather mumbled a plea, drooling on the floor.

"And that why monkeys should not have dildos!" Tasuku said, wrapping up his own speech.

* * *

A big thanks to my reviewers! Luv ya! Okies! Next chapter things get really interesting... but how? Read and find out! 

The other day, I got a good idea! (that doesn't happen very often, trust me. LOL) Anyway, if you review me, I'll review you. Guaranteed! From this day on. I dunno, maybe other people will adopt this idea also, which would generate more reviews for everyone.

**Review pweese!**


	6. Game Over

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything... other than my kitty.

**Authors Note(s):** Dear tlpunk... I have no idea. LOL. It wouldn't be as much fun! Okay? Sorry if it seemed like forever since my last update, but please consider that I have to write for my other stories, and that I have sports and stuff to do. Anyway, here's the next chappie... I was running on low fuel when I wrote it, so I don't like it all that much... but let's see what you all think!

* * *

**Chapter 6:**

**Game Over**

* * *

"They're in a good mood," Naota grumbled under his breath, the top tuff of his pitch black hair falling lifelessly over his forehead like a wilting flower. Water rolled down the strands of his hair, and dripped off, swinging the clump of hair slightly. He watched as the liquid droplets fell in front of his eyes. He sighed and pulled back the shower curtain to find an old friend staring at him. His eyes widened and his pupils dilated into tiny dots. 

"Guess who was watching you... the whole time," Ninamori declared, a sly smile on her lips. Naota blushed lightly, covering himself with his hands.

"Hand me a towel," he ordered, turning his head to the side_. What's she doing here! How'd she find me_?

"Why?" she asked, stepping closer to him. He unconsciously stepped back. "It's not like I haven't seen you before." He gulped as she continued to advance. He got really nervous when he felt the hard, wet and cold surface of the wall on his bare back. He was cornered, and she was only coming closer.

"Nina-" he started tentatively, but was cut off by her lips on his. She crushed her mouth on his roughly. He tried to escape, but her kiss was so enticing...

"Naota," she spoke up after she pulled away. "I know all about you and Haru-Slut."

"What did you?" he tired to question her, but he was cut off by her fast talking.

"I saw you! You and her..." she said in a low, obviously hurt voice.

"What! When!" he yelled, fear of losing everything, flooding over him like a tidal wave. His face showed his dismay with a tad bit of guilt.

"I came over to your house... Tasuku said that you had a friend over and I might want to avoid your room," she explained, a dark expression on her face.

"And?" he urged her to continue, knowing what she saw.

"It wasn't _just the cat_," she spoke sadly, and her voice broke up as she said the rest, "I-I wish I would have taken Tasuku's advice!"

"It wasn't just the cat..." he repeated several times, trying desperately to recall what happened after that. He shook his head, and blinked hard, remembering what came next... "You saw all that!"

"Yeah, the whole thing..." She sighed. "But it's okay."

"Huh?"

"I'm going to get you away from that horrible Haruko woman!" she shouted, grabbing his wrist and pulling with all her effort.

"No! Eri! Stop!" He resisted, trying to yank his arm out of her grasp.

"You think so, huh?" Haruko quired, appearing in the doorway.

"Argh! Speak of the devil!" Ninamori said harshly in a long hiss.

"Haruko!" Naota exclaimed, scrambling for something to cover himself with. He pulled a thesaurus out of thin air and used it to cover himself.

"You think I'm going to just let you take my Ta-kun away so easily?" Haruko demanded calmly, approaching the duo. "Especially against his free will..."

"You ruined everything!" Ninamori accused her, waving her fists in the air dangerously. "Just leave me and Naota alone!"

"So, Ta-Kun," Haruko directed to the man in the shower, covering his private parts with a thesaurus. "This is who you gave your virginity away to..."

"Yeah," Ninamori said. "And because of you, it wasn't easy." Naota's eyes expanded into large circles.

"N-No... don't say it!" he hopelessly pleaded.

"Why?" Haruko inquired, knowing that it was something he didn't want her to hear. "Because he was so embarrassed?" she asked.

"I'm not embarrassed!" he screamed.

"He was saving himself for you," Eri explained, "I had to convince him you weren't coming back... ever."

"Looks like you were wrong!" he shouted, being ignored by both women.

"Hmph! What ever," Haruko said, then added, "you had that jammed in his head pretty tightly."

"I had no reason to think you were going to return, so why should he feel committed to a girl who ran away!" Ninamori demanded.

"What was I running away from?" she questioned. "Hmm? Answer that Ms.Know-It-All." Haruko turned to leave.

Ninamori remained silent after that.

"Hey," Haruko called out to Naota, throwing her head back to glance at him. "Settle your shit here with her, then meet me in our room. There's something we need to talk about."

* * *

"Alright Canti," Kitsurabami started. "Let's go through that one more time." 

Canti sighed and words appeared on his screen, "no more..."

"Just once?" she begged, sensing his annoyance. He shook his head left-to-right refusing. "We have a big show tonight! Everyone will be there!"

More words flashed across his T.V head, "only stupid store clerks are going to see it."

"You get to sing along side Wayne Newton! This could be your big break!" his manager persuaded. "You'll never have to run errands or get a part-time job again!"

* * *

Back in Haruko's hotel room, her and Tasuku decided to have a little chat. 

"So... Haruko-San," Tasuku said, sounding oddly like his father. "Why are you with Naota anyway?"

"Why not?" she asked, paying more attention to her video game, Grand Thief Auto 3 for PS2. (A/N: I love that game! Hell yeah! Can't wait for the next GTA to come out!) She was sitting Indian Style on the rug in front of the Television. "Hah! Die you mother" She stopped mid-sentence when she felt Tasuku's hand on her thigh. She quickly paused her game, and laid down the controller. "I'm not going to be seduced the easily." She looked from the paused T.V. screen and thought of Canti offhandedly.

"Then what will it take?" he quired, his hand sliding steadily higher up her folded leg. She grabbed his hand and pushed his back to the floor, then mounted him. He smiled happily. "Alright!"

"Not quite..." she said, putting her forefinger on his lips. She lowered her head so she was almost nose-to-nose with him. "Nothing you have can take me, only Ta-Kun can compete with Atomsk."

"Atomsk?" he asked, his eyebrows knitting together. She smirked and licked his cheek, then got off him and walked away. He sighed when she dismounted him, and propped himself up with his elbows. "So much for my happy ending," he mumbled.

"Atomsk..." She sighed. "Is... or... _was_, the most powerful being in the universe." Haruko found it hard to cope with the fact that he was dead. What was she to say? Say that he _is_, like he was alive, and be in denial... or was she supposed to say _was_, like he was the past, and admit that her hunt was finally over? Neither way was easy.

"Psh... how can Naota compete with that?"

"Ta-Kun's different."

"Ta-Kun? You like to think of your boyfriend as a little boy?" he questioned.

"Just because it's a suffix that is usually used on playful little boys doesn't mean I like to think of him as a child," she defended.

"Then what does it mean?"

"Besides, he's not a little boy," she said, ignoring his question. "If ya know what I mean..."

"So that's why!" he demanded. "If that's the only reason you don't like me... then you should rethink your decision..."

"Really?" she asked as she took a seat on the rug again, and resumed playing the game.

"Yeah! Uhh... umm..." he stammered for an excuse. "I-It's cold in here! Yeah that's it!"

"Hmm... Ta-Kun was complaining about the same thing earlier..." she said in a bored tone. "YEAH! TAKE THAT! I HOPE YOU LIKE LEAD, 'CUZ IT'S GOING RIGHT IN YOUR ASS!" she screamed at the T.V. shooting down the pedestrians.

"And... uh... I have other great qualities!"

"Like?" she asked again in a dull voice, then yelled at the game again, "HAHHHAAAA! YOU THOUGHT YOUR MAFIA COULD BEAT ME!"

"I'm talented!" he bragged. "I played baseball professionally here in the U.S!"

"Yeah, uh-huh..." She sighed, then growled at the screen, slamming the buttons on the controller. "RAWR!"

"I'm better looking!" he continued to roll out boasts, "I'm smarter! And... uhh... I'm modest!"

"I-I ..." Haruko gaped at the screen in shock as her health reached zero. "Lost!" she yelled in rage, running across the room and grabbing her bass. "I just had a hooker! How did I die from a few grenades!" She smashed the controller, T.V. and the Playstation 2 system with her guitar.

"Hey!" Tasuku yelled in horror as his system was crushed. "I just bought that!"

"IT CHEATED!"

"Calm down..." he soothed, but his attempts to calm her were useless. She proceeded him completely breaking every single piece of the system. She looked up at him, her eyes red in rage. He gulped loudly, and nervously backed away.

"You made me lose..." she accused.

"H-Heyyouuh... Still haven't told me who Atomsk is..." he said cautiously.

"You're not even worthy of uttering his name!" she howled, then leaped up in the air, crashing her guitar down near him. He ran away, and zoomed out the door, only to run into Naota.

"Tasuku? Why are you ru" he started a question, but found his answer when Haruko used her guitar to break through the wall. "What did you do!" he directed at his elder brother, who was cowering behind his leg.

"I-I uh... said... umm... A-Atomsk..." he stuttered out.

"Atomsk!" Naota threw his head away from Tasuku and gazed over at Haruko. "You're still bent up over him!"

"And she lost in GTA3..."

"You let her play video games!" he demanded. "What the hell were you thinking!"

"The game cheated," Haruko breathed under her breath, then her head shot up and she walked up over to Naota. "Just like you!" she incriminated, pointing her bass in his face.

"It was just a big misunderstanding Haruko!" he backed down, and Tasuku jolted down the hallway and out of sight.

"Stop lieing..." she said, seeming to mellow out from her enraged state.

"I was going to break up with Ninamori anyway," he said, his eyes downcast and his voice soft as it floated into her ears. "I think they're going to kick us out of the hotel now," he whispered, then motioned at the whole in the wall, and the crowd of security guards surrounding them.

* * *

"Don't worry about it," Mamimi said to Ninamori as tears sprang up in her eyes. They were both seated on the edge of the bed, talking about what happened between Ninamori and Naota. 

"Haruko took him from me!" she yelled, crying into Mamimi's shoulder.

"Yeah, she does stuff like that..."

* * *

Tasuku stopped when he reached his and Mamimi's room that he had booked after being pulled from Naota's head. He put his hands on his knees, and panted, his heart still racing from his encounter with Haruko. She was defiantly not you're average girl. The yelling and commotion coming from that direction had died down. He sighed, and opened the door. 

"You won't believe what just happened to me Mamimi..." he said, as he entered. He stopped dead in his tracks when he found Ninamori was there too, her head resting on Mamimi's shoulder. _I think my luck is changing,_ he thought as he sat on the bed next to his longtime girlfriend.

"What is it Tas?" she asked him, wrapping her arm around Ninamori to comfort her.

"Nothing important. What's wrong with her?"

"Naota dumped her..." she explained, and Ninamori bust out in tears. "I know the feeling, it'll all be okay."

"What?" he asked.

"I said that I knew the" Then she realized what she had said. "I-I mean, that I know what it's liked to be dumped."

"Right! Sooooo... What do you ladies want to do?" he asked, a perverted grin sliding it's way onto his face. They both stared at him in confusion. "Ya know? We could... hang out." He treaded across the room, and grabbed some wine out of the fridge. _Two hot chicks don't show up hugging each other on your bed everyday... _he mentally reminded himself, _get 'em drunk... and then let the good times roll! YEAH!_

* * *

Yeah... Like I said before, it was too short, and it sucked. Anyway, there's always hope for the next chappie! 

A big, huge, massive, thank you to all my wonderful reviewers!

**Review please.**


	7. Sirens Of Unanswered Questions

**Disclaimer:** I own a kitty! o.O Nothing more than a kitty... o.o

**Author's Note(s):** Heh... Hi guys! I really should be ducking for cover or something, right? Yeah... it's been... quite a long time hasn't it folks? Yup, sure has. I'm not even going to start making excuses, because all the excuses I have wouldn't add up to the laziness that came over me. I have been writing though! Just not for this fic here. Now that all my holiday inspirations are done with, I decided to settle down and come back to my old love. This chapter isn't as funny as ones before, but it is a tab bit more romantic. I apologize for any errors in advance, and for my extremely late update.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 7: **

**Sirens Of Unanswered Questions**

* * *

All they heard was sirens as they rounded the corner in the opposing direction. The squeal of scorching rubber steaming on the pitch pavement. The pitter-pat of the loud, stomping footsteps, fleeing the sirens in a deadly game of pursuit. Curious glances from innocent citizens watching the event unfold followed them, before returning to their usual tasks. 

Naota stumbled, and his breath caught in his throat as Haruko yanked on his arm, pulling him backward and down to the rocky ground below them. He crawled up to her, and settled his back against the peeling spinach green paint of the ancient dumpster nestled in the dark alley behind the old Chinese restaurant. He leaned his head back against the over sized garbage can, pressing his raven hair into the rusted metal.

The sirens drew closer. Naota held his breath.

Closer. He squeezed his eyes shut.

Yet still closer, until!... They flew right pasted them. Haruko smirked.

"Heh, stupid cops! Run littles piggies, RUN!" Haruko laughed after the sirens had faded. Naota heaved his chest up and down, trying to regain the strength to breathe.

"Are you crazy!" he finally blurted out between hard, labored breaths. The cold air hitch-hiked a ride down his tongue to his throat, where it created tiny icicles that slowly melted and dripped down to his heart.

Haruko cocked an eyebrow and gave him a blank look.

"Oh, right. How could I have forgotten?" Naota rolled his eyes and mentally slapped himself upside the head. She actually _was _crazy. Insane was a better word though.

"Hollow head," she murmured, tilting her head toward him and smiling sweetly.

"Ugh, whatever!" He turned his head away from her and by the time he looked back, he only saw her white boot that snugly fit around her tight black nylons. He gazed up to her face, which was pointed toward the sky. _She's probably thinking about Atomsk again... _Naota thought to himself with a sigh. He locked his focus onto a rock that lay on the ground next to him, not wanting to think about his competition.

He stood up next to her and started walking away.

"Where ya goin' Ta-kun?" she asked, looking at him over her shoulder.

He stopped, and she noticed his head droop.

She raised an eyebrow, gave him a long look. From the back she could see right through him. He was empty and saddened by that emptiness. It was the same hollow soul she had left him with seven years before. She then walked past him.

"C'mon, we gotta find a phone," she said.

"Huh?"

"Need to call Mon-Chan so we can get our stuff outta the hotel," she replied.

* * *

"Whattaya mean we can't sell any tickets!" Kitsurabami screamed into the telephone receiver, her straw yellow hair a mangled mess, and circles under her eyes from a lack of sleep. She had been up all night on the phone, arranging Canti's next performance. _All night._ No pain, no gain, she kept reminding herself.

Canti patted her on the shoulder as her eyebrows drew closer together, then she let out a howl of frustration as she slammed the phone onto the table.

"It'll be okay," bright words were typed out onto Canti's T.V. screen.

"No it won't!" she retorted. "We need to find a way to sell out our next show, or we'll be canceled!"

Canti nodded. Then, for the first time in a long while, a light bulb went off inside his head.

"Let's find Mamimi."

"What?" Kitsurabami asked through her relentless pouting lips, staring up at the robot.

* * *

"A motel?" Haruko questioned in an unimpressed tone, her hand on her hip with a snotty turn to her lips.

Naota lugged mounds of suitcases through the door passed her, lifted them off the dingy tan carpet, and shoved them onto the neatly made bed that was liable to be infested with an overly friendly family of cockroaches.

"This place smells," she commented in a nosily voice, pinching her nostrils together with her forefinger and thumb.

"Shut up Haruko," he said over his shoulder at her. He took a whiff of the same smell she was talking about, and he recoiled noticeably, scrunching his nose into his face. "Ew... " He realized he was agreeing with her, and turned his back to her once again, trying to shield himself from the stench, and from her knowing glance. "Well, it's your fault that we're here anyway."

"Always my fault, huh?"

"This time it is at least." He sighed and sat down on the dirty flower designed bedspread. The springs complained with a fury against his weight. "If you hadn't gone berserk over that dumb game then we'd still be in the hotel. Why'd you freak out anyway?"

"Just to annoy you Ta-kun," she said, plopping down next to him.

He grunted and stared at the floor.

"So, you were 'going to break up with her anyway?'" she asked, looking at his profile.

"Hmm?" he muttered, looking at her lazily.

"You and Eri-San," she said.

He groaned and rubbed his temples. "I took care of it."

"Details please."

"I said that I took care of it!" he snapped in frustration.

Haruko placed her slender hands on his shoulders and kissed his neck. "Fine don't tell me. But don't expect answers from me until I get answer I like out of you," she said persuasively. He mumbled an unintelligible word under his breath. She smiled.

"What question would I ask you?"

She whistled, looking away and pretending to be ignoring him.

Naota sighed. "What ever."

"So... next subject," she changed her voice slightly away from her previously sexual tone to her casual speaking. "Why didn't you come get me?"

He blinked and raised an eyebrow, turning to face her, with confusion contorting his face.

"I mean... it's not like it was impossible," she added, ignoring his question.

"What are you talking about?" Naota inquired, completely lost. He was staring directly at her, and he had no clue where she was.

"How long did you have the Vespa, Ta-kun?" she mumbled so he could barely hear her.

He thought about this for a long moment. He didn't understand why her line of questioning was on this topic, but answered anyway. "About four years."

"Then why?" she asked in a neutral voice that scared him.

"Then WHAT!" He stood up off the bed with a jolt and whipped around to look at her, his breathing reckless and sharp.

"Then..." Haruko spoke softly. Her gaze retreated from his face and focused on the carpet. "Then why didn't you come get me!"

"What are you talking about!" he exploded with a fiery eruption of frustration and confusion.

"You didn't even try..."

"What the hell was I supposed to do!" he screamed with fury.

"Anything," she said plainly, lacking any emotion behind her voice.

"You expected me to come and get you!" he yelled, flabbergasted.

"I expected you to try."

"So what?... I was supposed to hop on my Vespa and run around the ENTIRE universe, looking for you!" She was insane. He knew she was crazy. Everyone was crazy. How could they expect so much from him? Why would they expect so much from him?

"Something like that, yes." The inter-workings of Haruko's complicated mind were shown out to him in a cluster.

"You're crazy, you know that?" he asked, a serious note ringing in his tone. "I mean it. You are."

"I know it better than anyone." She laid back on the bed, snatching a pillow and placing it under her head. She sighed and stared at the ceiling in a daze.

"What do you want from me?" He swallowed hard, not really wanting to know the answer. For all that was holy and good, he prayed that she wouldn't say what she had before. He pleaded with god that she wouldn't say she came all the way back here... just to use his head.

"When I left here, you were just a kid Ta-kun," she rambled. Though... her ramblings usually had a hidden point, but you had to be a detective to scope it out.

"What does that have to do with anything?" He glanced down at her next to him, her flat midriff revealed as she stretched out on the bed.

"I couldn't stay and watch Atomsk get away." She yawned and cracked her knuckles, still too stubborn to provide him with the satisfaction of looking his way.

"Answer my question!" he ordered in a stern matter. He would have no more of her games. Of her lies. Of her tricks. Of her... false love.

"I couldn't take you with me, you would have only got in the way."

"What the heck is wrong with you!" he demanded, staring down at her like she was a patient in the hospital. What was up with her now? Why was she acting so strange? Where was her mind now?

"You see Ta-kun... I did you a favor," she continued on in her own little world, her eyes glazed over as she mentally noted that the dots on the ceiling did not follow a pattern.

"I don't care!" he exploded and shook her arm in a desperate struggle to bring her out of her current state.

"That's all I wanted," she said. She looked at him, straight in the eye for the first time that whole day. For the first time in what seemed like forever to him.

"What?" he asked, finding his breath catching in his throat.

"I wanted someone who cared." The glint in her eyes as she spoke was different from any he had ever seen in her before. The dim lighting of her face highlighted the soft features of her baby-lie cheeks and milky clean skin.

"All you wanted was someone who cared," he repeated like he was in a dream. She was different from any other he had ever laid his eyes on. He swallowed and closed his eyes momentarily, just long enough to pin her face at that very second down into his memory banks forever. He opened his eyes, and to his surprise, and great gratitude, she was still there. The same twinkle in her eyes that was there in truth.

For the first time in their relationship, she had shared something with him. Something dear to her. Something that no one else knew. Something that made everything come together like glue.

"But Haruko..." he started, his voice as delicate as a flower petal in the rain. "I do care about you."

She once again, turned her gaze astray.

"And you don't believe me..."

He stood up.

Her eyes followed.

He extended his hand to her, and blindly, she took it in her own.

"Come with me."

* * *

Yeah... anyway, I'll do my best to pop the next chapter out ASAP! Oh yeah, while your reading this fic of mine, why not go and check out my reviewers fics? How about checking out my new FLCL High school fic I just started? Hmm? C'mon! Give 'em a chance! w00t. 

As always, a big, huge, GI-normous Thank you to all my faithful reviewers out there!

Review please.


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